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In recent decades, the number of streams on the Canary Islands has decreased dramatically due to the non-sustainable consumption of water for agriculture and tourism. Natural reaches of streams with an endemic macroinvertebrate fauna do, however, still exist in protected areas of Tenerife and La Gomera. Those reaches serve as a reference to develop an assessment method for streams on islands. This method takes into account common parameters such as water quality and hydromorphology, while emphasizing biodiversity and endemism. The latter concepts as they relate to stream conservation are important in both nature conservation and protection of species as many endemic aquatic organisms are endangered.
The restoration of ecosystems has become a major challenge throughout the world in the 21st century (see comprehensive surveys from, e. g. Temperton et al. 2004, van Andel & Aronson 2006, Walker et al. 2007, and Zerbe & Wiegleb 2009). Due to non-sustainable land use and inefficient use of natural resources, many ecosystems have been degraded or completely destroyed. Consequently, the functioning of ecosystems has been severely affected and many ecosystem services have been lost.